An anti-vaxx scientist said 'mass formation psychosis' caused people to follow COVID-19 measures. Psychologists say there's no such thing.

A scientist promoting anti-vaccine conspiracies attributed cooperation with COVID-19 measures like vaccination and mask-wearing with "mass formation psychosis" during a December 31 Joe Rogan Experience.
Dr. Robert Malone said mass psychosis has caused a third of the population to believe established facts about the COVID-19 vaccine.
The segment has been taken down. The account of Malone was shut down for spreading vaccine misinformation.

The full transcript was entered into the congressional record by GOP Rep. Troy Nehls.
People follow public health advice from experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci or choose to be vaccine free.
When a society has become decoupled from each other and has free-floating anxiety in a sense that things don't make sense, we can't understand it, and then their attention gets focused by a leader or a series of events on one small point.
There is no support for the claims made by Malone, according to psychology experts. The American Psychological Association does not use the term mass formation psychosis.

Jay Van Bavel, an assistant professor of psychology and neural science at New York University, told the AP that there was no evidence for the concept.
Stephen Reicher, a social psychology professor at the University of St. Andrew's in the UK, told the AP that the concept has no academic credibility.

The idea of "mass formation psychosis" is similar to "mob mentality" or the idea that people in a group will lose self-control and their identities, according to a social psychologist in the UK.
No respectable psychologist agrees with these ideas now.

According to PolitiFact, he claimed the Moderna's vaccine caused him to get sick from a previous COVID-19 infection.
Experts are concerned with the anti-vax claims of Malone. Experts told PolitiFact that they're more concerned about the fact that a scientist is involved than the fact that several public figures have spread misinformation.
The chair of vaccineology at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine said that he was a legitimate scientist until he started to make false claims.

Insider was unable to reach him.